We Are Here!: Mary Baldwin exhibit shows value of a visual arts degree

STAUNTON — When Suzanna Fields arrived at Mary Baldwin University (then Mary Baldwin College) from Abingdon in the mid 1990s, she was considering a career in journalism. In her sophomore year at Mary Baldwin, however, Fields took an art history class as an elective with Marlena Hobson.

"I was totally enamored with it," Fields said. "(Hobson) really quite literally changed my life. I found her to be a compelling teacher."

A summer spent in Oxford before her junior year helped fuel that love of art and when she returned to Staunton she took a studio art class with Paul Ryan, another class that made a huge impact on her. She had been a lover of books growing up, not an artist like her sister, but that was slowly changing.

The first day in Ryan's class, students did gesture drawings.

"It was a transformative moment," Fields said. "I was like, 'I drew my hand. Oh my god.' I ran back to my dorm and just couldn't believe it."

Already studying English, Fields decided she wanted to do a double major, adding studio art. She managed to squeeze the classes she needed into the next two years, graduating in 1997 with that double major plus a minor in both art history and history. She continued her fine arts studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Now Fields is an accomplished artist in Richmond, having displayed exhibits in museums and galleries throughout the Mid-Atlantic and South. She is the recipient of multiple awards and has been selected for residencies at various studios.

"When I went to Mary Baldwin, I had no idea I could draw," Fields said. "To me, that's the real value of a liberal arts education, that you get to explore. There's a lot of pressure on kids today to be very pragmatic, but that was a very fulfilling experience for me."

Fields' work will be among the exhibits on display through Sept. 29 at the "We Are Here! Collective Histories: Faculty and Alumni Exhibition." Curated by Hobson and Drea Howenstein, the work will be on display at Mary Baldwin's Hunt Gallery, open Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

The opening reception is set for Wednesday, Sept. 6, 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. with a curator and artist talk scheduled for 5:15 p.m.

Hobson taught art history from 1987 until 2016 at Mary Baldwin. About the time she began teaching, Ralph Cohen formed the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express at James Madison University and the touring troupe performed several times a year at Mary Baldwin. Hobson remembers how much the students loved it.

That eventually led to the creation of what would become the American Shakespeare Center, a cornerstone of tourism in Staunton.

"The arts save towns," Hobson said.

For academic institutions, both large and small, it's a defining moment throughout the United States, said Hobson. She said the economic value of a degree in the visual arts has been debated for decades. Those who downplay the value say there's a scarcity of lucrative positions in the arts and a financial risk of entering the art market after graduation.

"What is missing in this discussion are the valuable and practical skills a student, an artist acquires through the rigor of pursuing a degree in studio art," Hobson said. "Graduates enter the working world not only with the ability to imagine, design, and generate work but also to research and defend their Ideas."

Fields can't imagine what it must be like for students these days having to decide their trajectory in life when they're not even 20 years old. The cost of college has skyrocketed even since Fields was a student, and she knows that's a factor.

"But I think our modern world wants a quick, pragmatic answer to everything," Fields said. "Part of art and creative endeavors, all the arts, it's about the unknown and discovering and examining questions about the uncertainty in the world. That's a hard thing to kind of put in a neat package."

"We Are Here!" is a celebration of some of the many Mary Baldwin Art Studio alumnae, like Fields, and their teachers who used their academic experience and talent to craft a rewarding life.

The exhibition includes 50 artists, designers, filmmakers, scholars, and cultural workers who are doing many kinds of important work in the world.

"The binding element these artists have in common is being creative members of Mary Baldwin’s past, present and future studio art community," Howenstein said. "This exhibition represents a glimpse into their individual and collective ways of working, often with people, across disciplines, combining and discovering new knowledge and actively imagining the many ways that art is a catalyst for new cultural futures."

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— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: We Are Here!: Mary Baldwin exhibit shows value of a visual arts degree